Editor's Note 12/17/15: iCrete appears to have gone out of business since this article was written.

iCrete, based in Beverly Hills, California, has developed a proprietary algorithm for designing concrete mixes that it says can reduce portland cement content by 10%–40% without compromising strength. Cement production is energy-intensive; in a concrete mix with 12% cement, the cement is responsible for 92% of the embodied energy of the mix. In addition, extra cement usually increases early strength gain but can compromise long-term durability and cause other problems. iCrete uses an analytic process to optimize cement content to maintain or increase strength without any special admixtures.

GreenSpec Directory for energy-saving benefits,

GreenSpec’s editors, along with

When NTI founder Kevin Dennison visited western Canada in 1999, he found slab-on-grade houses with air conditioning and heat-recovery ventilation for the summer as well as radiant floor heating for the winter. Looking at all of the separate equipment and the space it required, Dennison wondered, “Why couldn’t we develop a unit that did everything in one cabinet?”

Designed for houses up to 3,500 ft2 (330 m2), NTI’s Matrix Total Home System does just that, incorporating a high-efficiency, gas-fired condensing boiler and furnace, condensing on-demand water heater, and heat-recovery ventilator into a single unit. Features include efficient, variable-speed, electronically commutated motors (ECM); a microprocessor that adjusts heat output based on actual loads and multiple zones; and a sealed-combustion burner that draws in outdoor air and directly vents exhaust. Because it comes with a 2" (50 mm) rather than 1" (25 mm) pleated filter, the system accommodates better air filtration than most residential-scale equipment. The system is designed for easy serviceability and access, and the boiler operates at a quiet 40 decibels. “You can’t hear them” except when they’re running in some cooling settings, said Derrick Trudgen of Trudgen Heating & Cooling.

Ecobatt has the same sound transmission and R-values as Knauf’s conventional fiberglass and passes all industry performance standards for insulation. The fiberglass does not contain any dyes, giving it a unique mottled brown appearance. In addition, the binder is inert, helping EcoBatt meet Greenguard Children and Schools and California’s Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) indoor air quality standards. Currently, EcoBatt is available only in the Pacific Northwest, but it will have wider distribution in the West by the beginning of 2009, and Knauf says it will convert all of its insulation products to Ecose by the end of 2009. Despite the five years of research that went into this binder, Ecose products are expected to cost the same as Knauf’s conventional fiberglass.

BuildingGreen, LLC, publisher of Environmental Building News (EBN) and the GreenSpec Directory, announced its seventh annual Top-10 Green Building Products during the 2008 Greenbuild Expo in Boston. The list recognizes the most exciting products added to GreenSpec or covered in EBN in the last year; a detailed announcement and full product listings are available at www.buildinggreen.com/press/topten2008/index.cfm.

Integrity Block is a compacted-earth block used as a cost-competitive replacement for concrete masonry units. The blocks contain up to 60% pre-consumer recycled content and about half as much Portland cement as standard concrete blocks do. They take 40% less energy to produce. For more information, see www.integrityblock.com.

ThermaRock, a new wallboard from Serious Materials, offers superior insulating value with no added thickness. The product incorporates Aspen Aerogels’ Spaceloft blanket insulation bonded to gypsum or magnesium oxide to provide an insulating value of up to R-4.1. The product carries a steep price but offers up to eight times the R-0.5 insulation value of standard wallboard, bringing potential efficiency benefits for retrofits and other hard-to-insulate projects.

Aerogel is made by removing liquid from a gel through a process that prevents the gel’s structure from collapsing. As a result, aerogels have the lowest density of any solid known, consisting of at least 90% air. Their nanoporous structure and low conductivity make them exceptional insulators, rated at R-11 per inch, but at a cost that until recently limited them to highly specialized applications like spacecraft. Aerogels are used as a translucent insulation in Kalwall glazing panels (see

In examining textile production, the sisters found that even organic fibers may undergo processing with toxic chemicals, which then remain on the fabric. O Ecotextiles’ strict standards require production partners to use biodegradable surfactants, detergents, and degreasers. And mills are prohibited from using a variety of chemicals that are common in textile production despite health and environmental concerns, including chlorine compounds, heavy metals, azo colorants, halogenated solvents, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) or deca-brominated flame retardants. Due to its concerns, the company discourages the use of performance coatings but does offer flame retardant and GreenShield stain-repellant finishes when necessary for commercial applications.

O Ecotextiles also requires that its mills treat wastewater, use fair trade practices, and employ socially responsible labor practices. To back up its claims to social and environmental responsibility, the company is willing to share detailed information with anyone who wants it.

The first annual WaterSmart Innovations Conference in October 2008 brought 1,200 attendees to Las Vegas, the driest and one of the fastest growing major cities in America. The exhibition featured 120 companies showing off their water conservation products. We review ten of the most exciting here.

Polypropylene (part of the broader polyolefin family of polymers) used to be thought of as a “cheap” fabric. Not only inexpensive, it had a plastic-like feel and was difficult to dye, flammable, susceptible to damage from ultraviolet light, and lacking in resilience. But polypropylene also offered performance advantages not found in most synthetic fibers—it is tough, stain and chemical resistant, inert, lightweight, and uses less energy and water to manufacture than nylon or polyester.

American Fibers and Yarn, producers of the fiber, and Wearbest Sil-Tex Mills, weavers of the Bella-Dura fabric, have built a product that takes advantage of polypropylene’s strengths while mitigating its weaknesses, starting with the Bella-Dura dyeing process. Most fabrics are dyed only on the outer portion of the fiber, using a method that wastes water and energy and makes the dyes vulnerable to wear. But Bella-Dura is “solution dyed,” with colorants added before the fiber is extruded. The dye becomes part of the fiber and cannot be washed away. The resulting colors can withstand cleaning with bleach and resist fading, giving Bella-Dura an AATCC-16 lightfastness rating (which measures a fabric’s resistance to color fading) of over 1,500 hours, far surpassing the Association for Contract Textiles (ACT) Performance Guideline rating of 40 hours for indoor upholstery and 400 for outdoor.

The Pro Industrial 0 VOC waterborne acrylic formula has fewer than 5 grams of VOCs per liter and has little odor, so it can be used in occupied areas if necessary. Available in gloss or semi-gloss, this paint can be applied directly to metal, providing chemical and rust resistance as well as early moisture resistance. Coverage varies from 140 to 225 ft2 (13–21 m2) per gallon, depending on application.

For conditions that demand the performance of industrial enamel, Sherwin-Williams offers Pro Industrial Enamel 100. With a high solids content and a proprietary solvent formula, Enamel 100 protects against chipping, abrasion, and flaking, which makes it suitable for handrails, trim, doors, and equipment. This paint promises impressive coverage of 400­–630 ft2 (37–59 m2) per gallon, roughly twice that of most competitors. The company claims that Enamel 100 is the only industrial alkyd paint that meets SCAQMD criteria for VOCs (fewer than 100 grams per liter) and that it contains no volatile hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). The paint, however, does contain the non-volatile HAP cobalt 2-ethylhexanoate as an ingredient.